Time to Return to the Gold Standard?

Discussion of the Gold portion of the Permanent Portfolio

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boglerdude
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Re: Time to Return to the Gold Standard?

Post by boglerdude » Tue May 21, 2019 11:44 pm

Bitcoin could make things worse by increasing tax evasion and as a payment method for crime. Transparency is good for society
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bitcoininthevp
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Re: Time to Return to the Gold Standard?

Post by bitcoininthevp » Wed May 22, 2019 9:13 am

Kbg wrote:
Tue May 21, 2019 9:37 pm
The "internet" didn't became a "thing" until it became widely deployed/employed.

If bitcoin becomes better than my digitally enabled Visa card, I'll adopt it.

If one understands the associated technology and can make good bets for investing purposes or is good at speculating in bitcoin good for them.
Agreed in general. Only additional comment here is that a buy and hold on Bitcoin's future is a way to make money on "crypto's" success in a way that wasn’t possible with the Internet build out. With the Internet you needed to pick companies that would win. With Bitcoin, if you buy the hypothesis that money is winner take all (or winner take most), you can invest in Bitcoin as an asymmetric bet. I realize this is getting into Bitcoin evangelism shilling weirdness. So Ill leave it at that.
Kbg wrote:
Tue May 21, 2019 9:37 pm
And sorry, you served up a big ole softball so I'm going to take a big swing...how's the Petro working out? ;)
Petro is centralized garbage. I hope no one confuses a centralized "crypto" with a decentralized Bitcoin. To paraphrase Tommy Boy: "If you want me to take a dump in a box, and mark it a cryptocurrency I will. I've got spare time.". Remember the point of all of this is decentralization to facilitate censorship resistance (so transactions cannot be stopped, supply cannot be inflated, etc). Petro has nothing to do with that.
Kbg wrote:
Tue May 21, 2019 9:37 pm
Not a hater, just a pragmatist.
We cant all be early adopters of all technologies. Esp ones requiring a financial investment.

Im curious. Is there an objective metric that you would consider bitcoin to "have been adopted to your satisfaction"? For example there have been debit cards tied to bitcoin balances allowing you to "spend bitcoin" wherever Visa is accepted. I assume that is insufficient for you. Even though that is the same payment rail used by the USD. So what would be a more accurate version of your subjective Bitcoin-is-adopted-sufficiently?
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bitcoininthevp
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Re: Time to Return to the Gold Standard?

Post by bitcoininthevp » Wed May 22, 2019 9:22 am

boglerdude wrote:
Tue May 21, 2019 11:44 pm
Bitcoin could make things worse by increasing tax evasion and as a payment method for crime. Transparency is good for society
Tax evasion is universally bad?

"as a payment method for crime". You should see all of the crimes assisted with the use of cell phones. But you’re right, because Bitcoin is censorship resistant, criminals will be early adopters.

Also, all of Bitcoin's transactions are publicly viewable. Although pseudonymous, there are many techniques to clue who is behind transactions.

Do you think it is good for society for everyone to see everything you spend your money on? If so, do you currently publish your credit card and banking statements publicly somewhere for me to view?
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Re: Time to Return to the Gold Standard?

Post by boglerdude » Wed May 22, 2019 9:07 pm

Sure Id vote for a transparency law like that. It would expose the corruption in politics and bring world peace :) (I can hear Libertarian666 screaming from his bunker)

> what would be a more accurate version of your subjective Bitcoin-is-adopted-sufficiently?

When we need to use it, or when it does something that cant be done any other way. Right now it just abets crime.

Howbout using blockchain to secure video surveillance footage of public areas? So the gov cant edit it
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Re: Time to Return to the Gold Standard?

Post by Xan » Wed May 22, 2019 10:34 pm

boglerdude wrote:
Wed May 22, 2019 9:07 pm
Sure Id vote for a transparency law like that. It would expose the corruption in politics and bring world peace :) (I can hear Libertarian666 screaming from his bunker)

> what would be a more accurate version of your subjective Bitcoin-is-adopted-sufficiently?

When we need to use it, or when it does something that cant be done any other way. Right now it just abets crime.

Howbout using blockchain to secure video surveillance footage of public areas? So the gov cant edit it
I'm truly surprised at the casual endorsement of the Panopticon. Personally I'm glad every day that cash still exists.
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Re: Time to Return to the Gold Standard?

Post by boglerdude » Wed May 22, 2019 10:46 pm

"A mill for grinding rogues honest." lol'd

Yeah I live in the ghetto, the threat from thugs is 5x greater than the gov
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bitcoininthevp
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Re: Time to Return to the Gold Standard?

Post by bitcoininthevp » Thu May 23, 2019 10:35 am

boglerdude wrote:
Wed May 22, 2019 9:07 pm
Howbout using blockchain to secure video surveillance footage of public areas? So the gov cant edit it
You can use https://opentimestamps.org/ or something like it to prove existence on the Bitcoin blockchain similar to what you describe. But someone would need to store the video separately.

Creating a new blockchain for this seems unreasonable. Who is going to mine the chain? Is someone storing the video? Since it’s a blockchain, the point is that it is decentralized, so that means many people around the world storing it? What is their incentive? etc.

These are the common questions I have for the "blockchain everything!" crowd.
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Re: Time to Return to the Gold Standard?

Post by Kbg » Sat May 25, 2019 8:36 pm

Adoption metric...that’s a good question.

My answer will highlight I haven’t put much thought to such a question for sure, but here’s some off the cuff thoughts.

Walmart test (widely accepted)

Electronically secure (as good as my bank/FDIC insured)

Convertible (as good as FX)

Stable (in the same ballpark as the major currencies or the next tier down)

Interest bearing (if I park it somewhere)

In short, it needs to be as “good” as a government backed currency.
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